Our Stay At Andaz Mayakoba

We had a fabulous time at the Hyatt Andaz Mayakoba last week. Here’s a recap our our stay including our suite and favorite amenities. Check out our dining experiences here and the Rainforest Experience spa day here!

I never know the best way to structure blog posts of a trip: chronologically, by topic, or by food vs. activities. Based on what would be most helpful for future travelers, here’s what I decided: 

• Post 1: All about our resort + breakfasts and lunches
• Post 2: Our four amazing dinners
• Post 3: Spa + golf life (I cannot wait to tell you about The Rainforest spa experience!)

So stay tuned!

We had a great trip to the Andaz Mayakoba!

The Andaz Mayakoba really blew us away, and I am ready to book it again for the same time next year! It came highly recommended by my sister, Laura Allen, who is a travel advisor with Fora. She thought we would love it how lush and natural the property is and the variety of restaurants across the whole Mayakoba complex. She was right! (If you’re interested in going, reach out to her to book with perks for you!) 

As I’ve mentioned several times, we booked our trip with Hyatt points transferred from Chase. It still blows my mind that we paid nothing to take such a luxury vacation (see this post on how we also covered most of our food and drinks). 

Easy Travel To Cancun

Part of the reason this trip was so great is that we flew a direct 3.5 hour flight from Washington Dulles to Cancun, and customs was a breeze. This was quite the opposite travel experience when we went to Anguilla last year. Anguilla was so much harder to get to with much longer lines (and cost an extra $500 in ferries/taxis). The customs line at the St. Maarten airport took FOREVER, meanwhile we just walked through Cancun’s in about 10 minutes. The Cancun airport is also pretty nice. I booked a van through USA Transfers that took us directly to the resort in about 45 minutes for $110 total, plus tips. 

We also hit up the Capital One

Lounge at Dulles and had another fabulous experience! Get yourself a Capital One Venture card to get amazing food and free drinks each time you fly out of the few airports that have them (Dallas, Dulles, Denver, so far I believe). 

About Mayakoba

Mayakoba is a gated community with four different resorts in one: 

• Andaz (Hyatt property, where we stayed)
• Fairmont
• Rosewood
• Banyan Tree

While you have to stick to the pools/beach/main amenities of your resort, you can use any of the restaurants or spas and charge back to your room. They also all share a PGA golf course and a few other common amenities. There are golf carts that go between the resorts along with bikes you can ride, so it’s really easy to get around. We loved being about to explore around without having to pay for taxis. You can ask any attendant or hostess to request a golf cart pickup, and they come fairly quickly. 

Our impression from the appearances was that Rosewood was the most exclusive, followed closely by Banyan Tree, and then Fairmont and Andaz. We thought the food was best at Fairmont! The pools were also the most impressive (that we saw) at the Fairmont, which was recently renovated. The Andaz had the best beach! We loved the Andaz and would totally stay there again, especially with the amazing value of Hyatt points. 

Andaz Mayakoba

The Andaz property was beautiful, lush, tropical, and spread out. Despite it being a busy time of year, it didn’t feel crowded, and the service was excellent. We arrived around 2pm and were greeted in the open lobby called The Sanctuary with cool popsicles! After checking in, a golf cart took us to our suite. 

Our Suite

We booked a suite in the beach area that was SUCH a good call. We loved our location, and it was great to walk 10 steps to the beach and pool, plus the restaurant we had breakfast at 3/4 mornings. I would definitely recommend the beach area. Our room didn’t have a view and was on the basement level, which was a little bit of a bummer, but the inside was very very nice!

We had tons of space, two balconies with a HEATED plunge pool, a rainshower, separate water closet, walk-in closet, and beautiful king bed. Last year when we went to the Four Seasons we wondered if we could ever top that luxury. I’m happy to compliment Andaz and say that this room was as nice or nicer than that one! 

At the Four Seasons we had a plunge pool but it was freezing and we never got in it (even when we supposedly “heated” it one day). The pool we had at the Andaz was the perfect temperature! Very very warm but not too hot that you couldn’t sit in there for a while. We plunged (haha) every day after the beach before getting ready for dinner. 

Tdaddy modeling the plunge pool : ) 

We had a surprise waiting for us in our room from the Andaz and Laura Allen Travel: some sweets and a bottle of wine! So fun!

The Beach and Pool

We loved the beach area! The cushiony chairs were so comfortable, and the service was great. They brought water to everyone, and you could order from the restaurants nearby: the Vegan Bar, Tinta del Pulpo or Sotavento. When we arrived we settled right in with some margs and guacamole! 

I did a little pool swim in the afternoon. Unlike the Anguilla pool, which was freezing, this pool was warm! There was a second pool up at the top of the property that we went to visit one day, but we just love the ocean sounds and view, so we spent all of our time at the beach. Another reason why we were so glad we got a room in the beach area. 

After two days at the beach, the rain inevitably blew in and we couldn’t go outside much at all on our third day. Our fourth day was cloudy and windy and we made do with towel blankets in the afternoon. 

Walk to Rosewood + Fairmont

The Rosewood and Fairmont are to the left and right of the Andaz beach, and we walked to both. If we had had more sunny beach days we probably would have enjoyed the bars they had on the water, but the rain/wind kept us inside for the second half of our trip. 

The Rosewood

Bike Adventure

We went on a bike adventure our first morning to explore the property. It’s pretty easy to get lose, but Google Maps helped! There is a nature trail that circumvents the property and we followed that around by the golf course and to the Fairmont. We biked for 45 minutes and probably only saw 15% of Mayakoba! 

The view from the Fairmont Lobby

Breakfast at Tinta del Pulpo

We enjoyed 3/4 breakfasts at Tinta del Pulpo, which was right outside of our room. I LOVED these Grilled Avocado Tacos with poached eggs! I had them twice. We also shared a tropical fruit plate each day that was so good. Also to note: they had Nespresso machines in the rooms which were good for a start but we went to Tinto for full cups. You could also get coffee to go there. There is also breakfast at Cocina Milagro, but we didn’t feel like getting a golf cart to head up there. 

Doing a little work with coffee before breakfast!

Breakfast at Brisas

One day we walked to the Fairmont for breakfast at Brisas and loved the healthy choices there. I got a green juice and a chia pudding! Thomas had the most epic avocado toast. And always lots of coffee. And the ocean views were incredible! 

Solo Lunch at Cocina Milagro

I had a solo lunch at Cocina Milagro while Thomas was golfing. These shrimp tacos were SO good, and I had a lunch Mezcal cocktail that was possible my favorite of the trip. It was raining, but I ate under a covered patio.

Lunch at Brisas

On Sunday we went back to Brisas because we loved our breakfast there so much. I had a gem salad with puffed quinoa and an egg, plus guacamole and chips! Thomas had tacos. One of us got tacos at almost every meal!

My Review

While I haven’t shared our dinners yet, I wanted to share a quick review of our trip. We would really like to go back! The ease of getting to and from Cancun plus the tropical weather plus the amazing food we enjoyed left us with a five star review. The food really was outstanding, and we were so impressed with the Andaz (and we can be very picky!!) I would 100% recommend Mayakoba to you all!

Coming next: dinner experiences + spa life! 

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• Four Seasons Anguilla
• How To Travel with Credit Card Points